batto 17 Posted July 14, 2015 (edited) New Horizons probe is just passing the Pluto in a closest approach after 9 years of travel :bounce3:: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/. We will start getting images tomorrow :popcornsmilie:. I don't know about you but I still have tiny little hope for aliens. You check the program there: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Mission/The-Flyby.php Edited July 14, 2015 by batto Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oxmox 73 Posted July 14, 2015 I don't know about you but I still have tiny little hope for aliens. There are probably pretty more people around with hope to find some extraterrestrial life in form of microbes. ;) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
altis 12 Posted July 14, 2015 9 years, quite amazing that they can target it so precisely, exciting stuff :) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nicholas 5 Posted July 15, 2015 This is historic. Been watching on the Deep Space Network for some time now. 9 years, quite amazing that they can target it so precisely, exciting stuff :) Orbital trajectories don't really change much and are quite predictable. Definitely exciting though! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oxmox 73 Posted July 26, 2015 New Horizons Finds Nitrogen Glaciers and Hazy Air on Pluto Astronomers astounded by the dwarf planet's active geology and atmosphere Pluto has nitrogen glaciers flowing down from its distinctive, icy heart. And the dwarf planet's thin atmosphere may have begun to freeze out onto its surface—a change long expected, as Pluto moves farther away from the Sun, but never before seen. “The mass of Pluto's atmosphere has decreased by a factor of two in two years,†said Michael Summers, a team member and planetary scientist at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. “That's pretty astonishing.†At the same time, he and his colleagues have spotted layers of haze in Pluto's thin atmosphere. The haze appears in bands extending up to 160 kilometres above the surface, which is roughly five times higher than scientists had predicted, Summers says. Pluto's atmosphere is replenished by ices that sublimate off its surface. New Horizons has identified three major types of ice—nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide—all within the bright 'heart' feature called Tombaugh Regio. Nearby, close-up images of the edges of fractured plains called Sputnik Planum reveal the nitrogen glaciers. At Pluto's frigid temperatures—about -235 °C, 38 degrees above absolute zero—water ice is too brittle to flow. But nitrogen can, which means the features must be made of nitrogen, says William McKinnon, a team member and a planetary scientist at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri. “To see evidence for recent geological activity is really a dream come true,†he adds. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-horizons-finds-nitrogen-glaciers-and-hazy-air-on-pluto/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
